Unocal finds new oil and gas reserve

Unocal Corp, one of state owned oil and gas company Pertamina's production sharing contractor, has discovered new oil and gas reserve in its concession area off East Kalimantan, BRD reported on Wednesday.

Pertamina announced on Tuesday that the new finding located in the Attaka block in the province is expected to contain 14 million barrels of crude oil and 85 billion cubic feet of natural gas.

The American oil giant, which owns a 100 percent interest in the Attaka oil and gas block, will develop additional 8 to 10 exploration wells to increase its gas and oil production in the new location, Pertamina said in a press statement.

According to the existing data, Unocal controls gas reserves of about 6.6 trillion cubic feet, or equivalent to about two-third of its total hydrocarbon reserves by the end of 1999.

In 1999, the company, with total gas reserves of about 1.67 trillion cubic feet, was ranked the sixth largest independent gas company in the United States, based in the volume of the gas reserves. In term of production, the company was ranked the third largest gas producer, with total gas output of 320 billion cubic feet. For a comparison, total gas production in North America reaches about 1 billion of cubic feet per day. (*)